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29 September 2014

Posted on Sep 29, 2014

Church Hosts Second General Women’s Meeting for Women and Girls

September 27, 2014

Mormon Newsroom

Hundreds of thousands of women, young women and girls 8 years old and older gathered around the world on Saturday, 27 September 2014, for the second general women’s meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Women leaders of the Church’s worldwide auxiliary organizations hosted the meeting at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The meeting was broadcast live in 55 languages to Latter-day Saint chapels, on television and radio and over the Internet.

Articles of Faith Podcast 14: Ralph C. Hancock – An Invitation to Help Advance the Pursuit of Truth as it Concerns our Way of Life

September 29, 2014

FairMormon Blog

Ralph C. Hancock earned his Bachelors from Brigham Young University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, all in political science. Prior to joining the faculty at Brigham Young University, where he is now a professor of political science, he taught at Hillsdale College in Michigan (1982-1986) and the University of Idaho (1986-1987). Ralph is (at the time of this interview) the President of the John Adams Center for the Study of Faith, Philosophy an Public Affairs.

Ralph Hancock e is also one of the founders of the LDS Web journal SquareTwo (http://squaretwo.org/) and a member of its editorial board. His current focus is on meaning and the limits of philosophy in relation to politics, ethics, and religion, and has started a series of articles with Meridian Magazine. He is here today to talk about a soon-to-be-released introductory article to that series with Meridian entitled An Invitation to Help Advance the Pursuit of Truth as it Concerns our Way of Life.

Among the earliest LDS researchers to explore the likely path trekked by the Lehites, we would be remiss if we failed to include Lynn and Hope Hilton. In the early 1970’s, building on some of Hugh Nibley’s textual speculations, the Hiltons journeyed to Arabia – traveling over 2,000 miles through the Arabian Peninsula – photographed the landscape, and wrote about their findings. Some of their photos and thoughts were published in a two-part series in the Ensign in September and October of 1976.

In this podcast Michael R. Ash explores the possible journey of Lehi’s family as they traveled in the wilderness before they left on their voyage to the new world.

Two years later, Kohler and those women founded a sequel newspaper, Exponent II, on the principle that Mormonism and feminism could be held in tandem — two equal parts to one whole woman.

All of those founding women recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of that publication, and the modern Mormon feminist movement, which has become a diverse, robust, national movement. Yet despite the expansion, and many other successes, the women winced between smiles at their celebration. Had they made a difference?

In June of this year, for example, Kate Kelly was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for apostasy. Kelly had advocated for the ordination of women to the priesthood.

In Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties, someone with a strong arm probably could hit a Mormon meetinghouse from any rooftop in most populated areas. And church buildings sometimes are so close together — even adjacent — that the tosser might be able to skip the same rock off two or even more in a few select spots.

LDS.org, the Salt Lake City-based faith’s website, offers a mapping option to help folks find a meetinghouse anywhere in the world. The Tribune used that to compile a spreadsheet of Mormon chapels in the three Utah counties closest to the world headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

n the outskirts of Rome along the ancient Catholic pilgrim route known as the Via Francigena and not far from a giant shopping center featuring a massive IKEA and the French do-it-yourself Mecca called Leroy Merlin, cranes are hoisting giant spires onto the top of a Baroque-revival-style church. But unlike most of the religious edifices erected in Catholic Rome, this Roman temple is being built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) of Italy to accommodate a congregation that has grown from 9,000 to nearly 30,000 followers in less than 30 years.

The Rome Temple Complex of the LDS sits on 15 acres and will feature lush gardens, and a 40,000-square-foot temple with floor and ceiling designs to mimic Michelangelo’s Capitoline Hill plaza overlooking the Roman forum. Marble from Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Brazil is being used to decorate the interior and exterior spaces. The grounds will also include a stake center meeting house (a stake being roughly similar to a Catholic diocese), a visitor center, a family history library and a special Mormon-only hotel for workers and worshippers.

Another official who sees no Mormon peril is Msgr. Enrico Feroci, the diocesan director of Caritas in Rome, the department that takes care of the church’s aid to the needy.

“Everyone has a right to make their own faith choices and to adopt the necessary means to profess it, such as building places of worship,” he noted.

“The Mormons shouldn’t be seen as a danger,” The real dangers for the Catholic Church are found among Catholics themselves, who too easily forget their roots, fail to recognize the richness of the Gospel message, and get lost in their vanity, selfishness, and indifference toward others, especially the weakest,” he said.

And, for the first time, the charismatic German leader described the meeting as the opening session of the church’s 184th Semiannual General Conference. Until now, General Conference has referred only to the two-day gatherings held during the first weekends of April and October, with the women’s meeting seen as a separate event.

Saturday night’s meeting also featured the first-ever prayer at a session of General Conference by a black woman, offered by South African Dorah Mkhabela, a member of the LDS Young Women’s General Board.

Mormon Feminists Surprised By New Wording Referring To Women As ‘Blessed Disciples Of Jesus’

September 29, 2014

Huffington Post

And, for the first time, the charismatic German leader described the meeting as the opening session of the church’s 184th Semiannual General Conference. Until now, General Conference has referred only to the two-day gatherings held during the first weekends of April and October, with the women’s meeting seen as a separate event.

Saturday night’s meeting also featured the first-ever prayer at a session of General Conference by a black woman, offered by South African Dorah Mkhabela, a member of the LDS Young Women’s General Board.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an intriguing evangelization tool — Gladys Knight, the legendary Grammy Award-winning soulful female vocalist. “Sister Knight,” as she is affectionately called by members of the church, has traveled around the country for the past 12 years with the 100-voice Saints Unified Voices choir, which she created and directs, sharing the Gospel in song during what the church calls “firesides.”

Facial hair was first banned on campus in the 1940s and again in the 1970s when BYU’s then-president Dallin Oaks stated that beards were representative of “protest, revolution and rebellion against authority. They are also symbols of hippie and drug culture.” (In other words, exactly what most kids go to college for.)

Oaks was partially right. The modern day beard craze has driven 50-odd students to protest and petition, all for the right to be follicularly on-trend.

Mormon feminists may have been surprised by some subtle changes in vocabulary and approach Saturday night at the general women’s meeting for all LDS females age 8 and older.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf addressed the female audience — sitting in the giant Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City or watching via satellite in LDS chapels across the globe — not just as “sisters” but also as “blessed disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Students at a Mormon church-owned university have launched a protest against a ban on something its namesake once sported: a beard. About 50 young men at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, stormed the campus on bikes, rollerblades and skateboards sporting real or fake beards calling on the school to end the ‘outdated’ rule.

Alexander’s family sat in the front row of the courtroom throughout the trial, often sobbing, looking away from horrific photographs, and wincing as Arias described the victim as an abusive boyfriend who wanted nothing but sex.

It was a far cry from the man Alexander presented himself to be publicly — a devout Mormon in search of his soul mate.

Earlier this year, Glenn came out of the closet and announced to the world that he’s gay. Now, normally this wouldn’t be so unusual, but there’s a twist–he’s Mormon.

All of the band members were raised Mormon, and none of them have any ill feelings toward the church. In fact, all four members credit The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for their success. The group chooses not to drink alcohol or to do drugs, and they attribute their rise to fame to the church’s doctrine of staying away from such substances.

NOTE: This is posted for those who are interested in keeping abreast what is being said around the world about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. MormonVoices cannot and does not guarantee the validity or truthfulness of any information reported. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of this information lies with the reader. As all information comes from other news sources and has not been independently verified, MormonVoices cannot guarantee or be responsible for the security of links in the clipping service. MormonVoices will attempt as much as possible to exclude news articles containing strongly offensive language or which lead to offensive images, but cannot guarantee that some will not slip through.

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